Spain being the former colonial power in Latin America remains closely tied with the continent in terms of its cultural production. Each year, several hundred books related to the Latin American and Caribbean topics are published in Spain. As the librarian who is charged with developing the collections to support both the student and faculty teaching and research on campus, I continue to build selectively in this particular area of publication. Below is the icon that upon clicking on it will allow you to see our recent acquisitions of books from Spain on Latin America!

 

There are several interesting books in this collection including the one on an exhibition of Lina Bo Bardi‘s modernist architecture. One can also look at the documentary on Lina Bo Bardi that I am posting below educational purposes.

Below are some of the select “artisanal” books that were published by the Frailejón Editores in Colombia. These books were produced in limited quantities and have artistic value. At the library, we collect these books on very limited basis. Most of these books below are the representations of the works by the famous Latin American authors.

 

 

The library was lucky to acquire only the select titles of a wonderful and well-known letterpress artist and printer Nacho Gómez Arriola from Mexico. These titles are unique and handmade at a letterpress called, “Taller Gráfica de Comala de Nacho Gómez Arriola.” One can see Nacho Gómez Arriola (on the left) sitting next to Juan Pascoe of Taller Martín Pescador. At the Bancroft Library, we do have a collection of Juan Pascoe’s works. Since each of these books are unique in their esthetics and provenance, the Doe Library will be offering these for safekeeping to our sister library-Bancroft Library. Below are some of the pictures of these books that one can enjoy by clicking here!

 

Below I present you with a recent batch of our new acquisitions of Colombian books. These books represent a rich cultural tradition and print culture of Colombia. Please click on the icon below to get access to the images of these books. Some of the images should not be taken out of their context as these were used on the covers of the book.  One such book might be “1000 caricaturas Afro en la historia de Colombia.” I found some of these images stereotypically racist and precisely this publication by the Universidad de Valle alludes to the nuanced history of the depictions of the Afro-Colombians.

Since I took on the responsibility for collection development for the Caribbean and Latin American Studies at Doe Library of UC Berkeley, I set a goal of developing a sustainable collection of Central American imprints. To this end, we began collecting extensively from all of the Central American States. Today, I am glad to present you with an album that showcases some of our recent purchases of books from El Salvador.

There are several important works that we have purchased including the one by Roberto Damas entitled, “Monseñor Oscar Romero y los medios de comunicación.” The tragic assassination of Monseñor Oscar Romero has continued to shake up the society in El Salvador. He was canonized by the Pope last year. Besides, this book there are several contemporary literary imprints such as “Una pequeña dosis de ternura”, by Manuel Vicente Henríquez B., and Roque Dalton’s Patria and others.

Please click on the icon below to get the access to the images of the new books from El Salvador.

I continue to develop our Andean collections as time passes. I understand that it is important to continue to develop these collections to support our Andean Studies. Please click on the icon below to get access to our recent purchases of Ecuadorian books.

 

VANDERBILT LIBRARY TRAVEL GRANTS–Latin American Studies

The Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt is offering two short-term library research grants to promote scholarly use of the library’s extensive Colombian collections during the spring and summer of 2019. The grants are funded by the Title VI National Resource Center grant from the US Department of Education. Recipients are awarded up to $1500 to support travel expenses such as airfare and lodging.

The Latin American collection is one of Vanderbilt’s longstanding strengths. In particular, the Colombian collection is one of the country’s most distinctive collections. The Helguera Collection of Colombiana and the Delia and Manuel Zapata Olivella Collections are two of the library’s prized special collections.

Eligibility:

Current scholars at a college or university
Faculty or students at the dissertation level
Demonstrated research and teaching interest in Latin America

The application deadline is January 31, 2019. Questions regarding the collections or the application process should be directed to Paula Covington, Latin American and Iberian Bibliographer. Applications should be sent to the Center for Latin American Studies.

Please submit a current CV, budget, and statement about the research project. Include the topic, a plan of materials to be consulted, and a description of how the resources will enhance your teaching and/or your research project.

Within two weeks following the completion of the access period, grantees are required to submit to the Center for Latin American Studies a one-page report detailing the work carried out during the grant period. Reports will be provided to the U.S. Department of Education for grant reporting purposes.

I hope that you have had a great new year celebration. To lighten it further, I will continue sharing some news about our recent purchases and new books from the region. Below is an album of select Colombian books that we have received in our library. These will be made available to our users. Please click on the icon below to get the feel of what we have been purchasing from Colombia. The images of these books might be subject to copyright. I am using them for educational purposes only and to illustrate the books that we are purchasing. I wish you a very healthy and prosperous new year!

Also if you want to listen to the mythology surrounding the Bachué, please see below:

 

The new year is upon us, and I want to wish the readers of this blog- a very Happy New Year 2019. Good health, and peace of mind to you! Below are the new books that we have received from Mexico. I continue to build our collections of Mexican books. Wall or no wall, our academic collections continue to grow. Mexico represents an important niche of UC Berkeley’s collections. Enjoy and Happy New Year once again!

Please click on the icon below to get access to the photos of these new Mexican books.